The Senate of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) considered a bill to increase the campaign spending limit for presidential and senatorial candidates during their meeting on Jan. 21.
The bill proposed increasing the maximum amount that senate candidates could spend to $250, and increasing the maximum amount for presidential and vice presidential candidates to $750. Current limits cap campaign spending at $200 for senate candidates, $500 for vice presidential candidates and $600 for presidential candidates.
Senators Matthew Hoang, Viviana Castro and several others immediately spoke up in opposition to the bill on the grounds of being against the ability to spend large amounts of money in student government elections. Hoang said it was naive to assume that campaign spending did not provide an advantage in ASUN races.
Others defended the increase on the grounds of inflation. Senator Ken Bhardwaj described the limit as still being a “concrete threshold.” Senator Nicholas Bohlander said that while he recognized that potential financial disparity between candidates wasn’t fair, life wasn’t fair. Multiple senators argued that a candidate spending no money could succeed against a candidate spending a lot of money by putting in more time to speak with voters.
The debate continued for some time, with the focus shifting to the role of money in student politics. Speaker Pro Tempore Dillon Moss said that, while initially a supporter of the bill, he had been swayed against it. Senator Alexander Saporito suggested amending the bill to keep the senate campaign spending limits as-is, while increasing the limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates (though no motion was made). Senator Miriam Dayton said that higher spending limits may ward off apprehensive potential candidates who see the limit as an expectation.
Senator Carrie Debarger asked if there was data on campaign spending; ASUN Associate Director Luis Aguilar-Herrera said that while he didn’t have exact numbers, it was common for candidates to spend the maximum amount.
When put to a vote, the bill failed with 11 votes against and nine votes in favor.
Other Legislation:
- The senate passed a resolution condemning Nevada State Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager’s decision to remove call-in public testimony during the special legislative session in November 2025. ASUN Senate Parliamentarian Jason Issa said that Yeager’s decision restricted students’ ability to engage with the legislature, and Speaker Leaf Acklin pledged to never restrict public comment as Yeager had.
- The senate passed a bill adding an easy-to-read table to ASUN’s policy document for club funding that better communicates the details of the policy.
- The senate passed a binding resolution creating a framework for the senate to create future joint resolutions with other governing organizations on campus, specifically listing the Graduate Student Association and the Faculty Alliance as potential collaborators.
Other Notable Information:
- Honors College Senator Madison Kitch said that in a meeting she had with University Provost Jeffrey Thompson, she was told that the administration hadn’t heard anything about the UndocuPack program from the federal government since the injunction in September, but the name of the program will be changed to avoid potential confusion. It is unclear what the new program’s name will be.
- A Dunkin’ Donuts will be opening in the Pennington Student Achievement Center (PSAC) and a small convenience store will be opening in the Knowledge Center (KC) in fall 2026, according to Nevada Dining in a presentation they gave to the senate.
